Tim will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

We are conscious that some people from the time when Tim was at the School may not be in contact with us and we would ask if you could pass on this information to those that you know.

As is the usual practice, we would like to place an obituary for Tim in the 2023-24 OI Journal and would be very grateful for any stories or memories you may wish to share which we could put together for the publication. Please address any contributions to me through oldipswichians@ipswich.school

Sally Webber

OI Chair

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Funeral details:

The funeral will be at Earlham Crematorium (193 Earlham Road, Norwich, NR2 3RG) on Wednesday 28th August at 1.30pm, with refreshments afterwards at the Norfolk Club ( 17 Upper King St, Norwich, NR3 1RB).

Please be in touch with Bernard Besly via email should you be able to attend - bbesly@outlook.com - thank you

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I am very sorry to read of the sad passing of Tim Townshend.

We both joined the school by starting at Hugh and Olive Gleave's Junior House as boarders in September 1958 - he, then aged 9, in Prep B, and myself, at 8 being the youngest then boarder at the School by about a year, in Prep C. We both moved up to Westwood in September 1962, so we were together through his time of some nine years at the school.

We shared what I would say was a rather modest interest in the sports side; I recall that his talents lay more in the literary and related fields, and that he enjoyed taking part in school plays and being a chorister, for example.  

I think that (as I only quite recently discovered I have too) he had some Irish family connections. Anyway, at one time early on my conception of Ireland was that it was just one "place". Using a school cap, Tim very carefully explained to me that that island was divided into two: pointing out that the larger part was known as "Eire" (rather than Ireland), and that only the smaller part, represented by the peak of the cap, was really "Ireland" (Northern Ireland of course).

We kept in touch occasionally at times of reunions, and I gathered that Tim remained a staunch supporter of the school. He became quite a distinguished lawyer - a barrister in fact - too. Tim had an incisive sense of humour and strong feelings for what is right, which also helped to make him good company.

My condolences to his family and friends.

Paul St John Turner (OI  1958-68)

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We joined the prep in the same year, although Tim was a couple of years my senior. He had a notable career, particularly in the literary, musical and drama fields. He was head of Westwood, then read Law at Pembroke College, Cambridge and then went to Lincoln’s Inn, to qualify as a barrister, where he was awarded a Thomas Moore Bursary. He joined one of the counsel chambers in Norwich and subsequently was appointed to the judiciary as a chairman of a First Tier Mental Health Tribunal.

Subsequently, I co-founded a solicitor’s firm in Norwich and my litigation partners, often instructed him because of his reputation. I used to run into him; as the local legal fraternity at that time was quite collegiate, or walking round the City.

Tim like many of us, had an Irish lineage, but his father was a vicar who subsequently had a parish near Norwich, where Tim was born. After many years ill health, he died of Motor Neurone disease at the Priscilla Bacon Hospice, possibly about a mile from where he was living.

I attended Tim’s funeral.  He was well respected, which was evidenced by the fact that there was standing room only, with the service being relayed outside by loud speakers; which I had not previously witnessed. As well as being an ardent supporter of the OI Club, he was also a good citizen of Norwich. I understand that he was sometimes president of both The Norfolk Club and the Norwich Housing Society, as well as a patron of the Norwich Festival and on the boards of the Norwich Hospital and the Stuart Court Memorial Society, together with various musical interests. The esteem he was held in was demonstrated at the Crematorium, which may have surprised him.

When Hugh Gleave was headmaster of the prep, he gave the impression that he did not necessarily want to turn out the brightest boy but ideally a good citizen. In Tim he achieved both. He was no Lowry “match box man”, but a character, who will be sadly missed, so I send my condolences to his family and friends.

Terence Blackford (OI 1958-70)